Rehab
by senjulover
Summary: Sasuke had struggled with his depression for years before Kakashi forced him to try a new form of therapy. Little did he know that during his stay at Konoha Rehabilitation Centre, he would meet a certain idiot who would flip his world upside down. SasuNaru / AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hey.**  
 **So I wrote this when I was 14 and then when I grew out of Naruto I deleted it out of fear/embarrassment that people I knew irl would find it. Anyway, I've been sucked back into my Naruto addiction by re-watching the anime and thought I'd do a little rewriting of this and re-upload as it was my most popular fic before I deleted everything on my ff account other than Spiral Tapes (for some reason?).**  
 **I've not changed a lot (I'm lazy) but I've tweaked it a little bit; tried to make the characters slightly more believable. I think it's a decent story but I apologise for how miserable the whole theme of it is, I was not in the best head-space myself when I wrote this fic lol.**  
 **Anyway, enjoy! -E**

 **Note: This fic switches between Naruto and Sasuke's POV. Whenever there's a - it means its switched. Also, things in** ** _italics_** **are internal thoughts from whoever the section is currently being written in the perspective of. I hope that makes sense.**

 **Warning: Throughout this fic there are; Mentions of eating disorders, drugs, addiction, murder. Descriptive suicide/self harm. Bad language. NSFW scenes (later in the fic). Basically don't read if you're particularly sensitive to anything lol, its pretty depressing and kinda graphic at parts.**

 **REHAB - CHAPTER 1**

As he laid on his bed, waiting to be called for the introductory meeting, Sasuke Uchiha once again wondered why he was here. Well, he knew his guardian, Kakashi Hatake, had made him come as it would "be good for him" but still, he now regretted not making more of a fuss about having to come. It'd been Kakashi's idea to send Sasuke to this new rehab centre that'd just opened up. It was different to other rehabilitation centres, as people with all sorts of different problems and addictions came to this one. It was supposed to show you how different people deal with things and instead of getting to know people with the same problem as yourself, one would find themselves talking to people from many backgrounds with different problems and views. They'd still be getting the same treatments as the other rehab places gave you, but the group counselling and meetings would be different. Sasuke and whoever else had come today were the guinea-pigs to see if this idea worked. And because it'd been free, Kakashi had jumped on the idea of sending Sasuke, not that Sasuke thought he needed rehabilitation, but apparently his view on the subject wasn't valid. The raven had only been here an hour and he was already bored even though he had another 27 days and 23 hours to go.

' _Already counting the hours, are we?_ ' Sasuke said to himself and smirked.

He'd unpacked most of his stuff into the wardrobe provided and was now laid on his new bed staring at the ceiling wondering how bad it could be. He didn't want to be mixed in with a bunch of druggies and alcoholics, but then again maybe that might be better than being stuck among people with the same problem as himself...

"The introductory meeting will start in 5 minutes in the main hall, please make your way down and find a seat in The Circle. Thank you." said a calm voice on the overhead speakers.

The raven sat up and ran a hand through his hair, spiking it up before walking over to the door and putting on his shoes. He glanced at himself in the mirror to make sure he looked presentable, though it was hard to go wrong when everything you were wearing was black or navy, and made his way into the corridor, locking the door behind him.

The main hall was a large room, with tall windows on the far wall and a door on either side. "The Circle" as it had been called by the woman on the speakers, was a large circle consisting of about 12 chairs. Around the sides of the room there were also chairs scattered about and a few tables as well. Sasuke was currently the only person in the room, apart from a girl with brown hair tied up into little buns on either side of her head. She was wearing sky blue uniform, that of the rehab centres, and was flicking through papers at one of the tables in the corner. Sasuke assumed she worked here as a helper or psychiatrist and ignored her, choosing to stand in another corner of the room waiting for somebody else to arrive and sit down before he did. He didn't want to draw attention to himself by being the first there, nor did he want to make small talk with the others who arrived early.

A minute or two later, Sasuke glanced towards the door as 5 people walked in. None of them seemed to know each other and they all sat down in silence. There was a boy with a ridiculous bowl hair-cut who had huge eyes, and even huger eyebrows, and was wearing a green all-in-one that made the raven's eyes burn. Then there were two blondes, a man with long hair partly tied up in a pony tail who looked around shiftily the whole time as if he was slightly insane, and a girl. She seemed ordinary enough but as the raven turned to look at her properly, he noticed how slim she was.

The last two were a guy in a pale blue hoodie with dark, round glasses and spiky brown hair who looked as if he could do with a good night's sleep and a tall man with extremely long brunette hair and an odd tattoo on his forehead.

 _What a weird bunch._

Two more people entered: a rather fat boy and a tall, thin boy with a very spiky pony tail. They sat next to each other and talked, it seemed to the Uchiha like they already knew each other. Seen as 7 of the 12 seats had been filled and there still needed to be room for the helpers/psychiatrists, Sasuke assumed everyone was here and decided now would be a good time for him to slip into a seat. He made his way over to The Circle and sat down next to the tall one with the spiky hair. Nobody really noticed him sit down, so all went as planned. Sasuke was slightly surprised to see one more person enter the room.

The boy who had just entered looked about the same age as Sasuke. He was blonde, with bright blue eyes and was tall and muscled. He also had some odd whisker-like scars on each of his tanned cheeks and was humming away happily to himself.

 _'I bet he's on drugs'_ Sasuke thought ' _He looks too happy to not be...'_ The blonde sat down opposite Sasuke and looked around before settling comfortably into his seat and continuing to hum to himself.

At last, the helpers entered the main hall; A man with brown hair who appeared to be in charge, followed by a girl who didn't look much older than Sasuke, with big grey eyes and long purple-blue hair. The helper Sasuke had spotted earlier also joined them in the circle.

"Welcome to Konoha Rehabilitation Centre. My name is Yamato Mokuton, and I am the head psychiatrist here at KRC! First of all, I'd like to thank you all for coming. I know it can be a huge step admitting you have a problem, but now that you have, we can help you recover. Second, I'd like you to meet my two helpers, Hinata Hyuuga" Yamato gestured to the girl with grey eyes who smiled at them all. "And Ten-Ten" He then gestured to the girl with the buns who grinned. "We also have a medic on site called Sakura Haruno, but she's busy right now. Now it's time for you to introduce yourselves! I want name, age, your addiction as well as the problems it causes you and past experiences with it, and an interesting fact about yourself. The purpose of this is to start as we mean to continue; all rehabilitation works on the basis of being open about what is wrong with you. If you can openly admit to a group of strangers your struggles right now, it sets the right tone for the rest of the month we will be here. Also, please respect everyone. We all have a problem we want to deal with and you're all here to support each other, so being understanding is the key. Okay, we'll start on the left and go clockwise."

First in the circle was the blonde girl, whose name was Ino Yamanaka. She was anorexic. "An interesting fact about me uhhhmm.." she paused for a moment, "Oh, I know! I know Sakura, the medic here really well as we were childhood best friends. Nice to meet you all and I hope we can get along."

She finished before turning to the boy next to her, whose name was Shino Aburame. Shino had formed an addiction to pain killers a few years ago which had led to him almost being kicked out due to spending his parents money buying the substance daily. "A fact about myself...I like bugs." The brunette paused, "That is because they are small, and subsequently have less capable brains; they do not have the capacity to form emotional or substance issues, but only intake knowledge beneficial to their survival. I feel I learn from the ways of insects."

' _What a creepy guy'_ Sasuke scoffed to himself. _Who pays that much attention to insects?_

Next up was the large boy who'd come in a little later.

"Hi, my name is Chouji Akimichi, and I'm 18 just like Ino and Shino! My addiction is to food, especially crisps and fattening products, which is quite ironic seen as I'm sat next to Ino." he smiled and continued to talk about how he was bullied for his weight and how it was severely affecting his health and confidence. He was also interested in wrestling. Next up was the boy with the spiky pony tail, he had a bored look on his face as explained he was Shikamaru Nara, also 18 and he was addicted to ketamine.

"It all started after my godfather died. Asuma was his name and he was somewhat like a best friend to me. I took ketamine to escape; it made me relax and not really care about anything...but now I want to stop and move on with life, it's what he'd want. And oh, and interesting fact about me, let's see..I have an IQ of over 200." he finished.

Sasuke then realised it was his turn.

"My name is Sasuke. I'm 17 and my addiction is self harm. I've also tried to commit 4 times. Problems it's caused me and past experiences? I don't feel that's any of your business. Oh and an interesting fact about myself? Hm, there's nothing all that interesting about me." The raven sat back down and looked at the floor.

"Could you give us your last name please?" Yamato asked. "It's only polite when introducing yourself."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, hoping he'd gotten away with introducing himself by his first name only. Most people in the country knew the story of the Uchiha's, it had been all over the news and extremely controversial: How they'd all been brutally murdered by Sasuke's big brother Itachi, and when they'd finally caught Itachi and punished him with death, they had found out he'd be blackmailed into killing his family by a terrorist group. Sasuke was the only survivor of the Uchihas.

"Sasuke Uchiha." He said just loud enough for people to hear. He noticed a few raised eyebrows and shocked expressions, but chose to ignore them. The reaction was always the same so he'd gotten used to it. The raven had tried to introduce himself without actually telling them much; he didn't like letting people in. Reflecting on what he'd just said, he probably came across as moody and up-himself. He didn't want them to like him, but if he had to live with them all for the next month, the Uchiha didn't want everyone hating him either. He sighed inwardly, knowing it could've gone better, but what's done is done.

Their introductions continued round the circle. The guy with the eyebrows was called Lee Rock and he was an alcoholic who apparently had a black belt in three different martial-arts. Deidara Katsu sat next to Lee, and the blonde man was a pyromaniac with a preference to fires induced by explosions.

"My fact is that I've got mouths on my hands!" He said proudly, opening his palms to reveal tattoos on his palms of open lips, teeth and a tongue hanging out.

' _Remind me to stay out of their way'_ Sasuke thought to himself.

The teen with the odd tattoo on his forehead introduced himself as Neji Hyuuga.

"I have an OCD about people, a form of ROCD. It's odd, I decide what I want them to do and then I won't take no for an answer. Everything must go according to my plan, but of course this is very inconvenient and painful for the people around me" His interesting fact was that Hinata, the grey eyed helper, was his cousin and he was the reason she'd first gone into psychology. Last was the blonde who'd walked in later than the others; the happy one.

' _Here we go'_ The raven thought, he could almost predict what the blonde was going to say _"I get high off pills every day but now I wanna stop because –insert lame excuse here-"_.

"Hey everyone, name's Naruto and I'm 17!" he grinned and continued "My addiction is well, self-harm and suicide I guess" he rubbed one hand along the back of his head, looking sort of embarrassed.

 _Self harm and suicide?!_ The raven was shocked by the contrast between Naruto's outward happiness and inner demons but continued to listen to the blonde boy.

"I guess it has caused me quite a bit of trouble, I miss quite a bit of school because of trips to hospital and a few other things.. Uh, past experiences? The usual I guess and I've tried to commit suicide 7 times now but my damn body's really tough and I heal super quick so, as you can see, I've never succeeded. And my interesting fact is that I love Ramen and I once ate 11 bowls in under an hour!" he grinned once again before sitting down.

Sasuke looked at the blonde boy with disdain. He appeared so unnecessarily happy, despite suffering the same gruelling issues as the Uchiha. He could already tell he wasn't gonna get along with this kid, when he realised something and smirked to himself. Sasuke was never one to let up an opportunity to make an idiot look even more idiotic.

"Excuse me." Sasuke spoke up, all eyes pointing towards him. "Naruto didn't state his last name. It's only polite when introducing yourself" he said, mimicking the exact words Yamato had just spoken to him.

"Prick." Naruto shot at him, only making Sasuke smirk more.

"Very true." Yamato said, looking from Sasuke to the blonde in question. "Your last name please, Naruto."

All eyes turned back to Naruto and Sasuke saw the blonde's face drop, all trace of the previous smile now gone, the happy act had been fake.

"uzu-.." Naruto grunted, staring at the floor.

"Sorry Naruto, I didn't catch that, can you speak up a bit?" Yamato said.

Naruto looked up for a moment, staring at the psychiatrist before dropping his head to look back at the floor. "Do I have to?" he said quietly.

Sasuke looked back at Yamato, waiting for his answer. ' _What is his problem?_ ' the raven thought to himself. Sasuke hated his last name and the effect it had, but Naruto was just drawing even more attention to himself by not saying it now he'd been specifically asked.

"Yes, you do have to say it. I'm sorry but we have to know your basic personal details, plus it'd be good for the others to know your name if you wish to get along." Yamato replied patiently "Now please tell us. We made Sasuke do it and so you must also oblige, it's only fair."

Naruto shot a look at Sasuke, as if to curse him and then took a deep breath. "It's Uzumaki okay? Naruto Uzumaki." The blonde whispered, just loud enough for them all to hear before looking at the floor again, blonde bangs falling about his face and shielding it from view.

 _'He made a big deal? For what?'_ Sasuke sneered to himself. ' _He truly looks like an idiot now._ ' Looking up at the others in the circle, he was slightly taken aback. On every face he saw shock mixed with disgust, maybe even fear? And all eyes were staring at Naruto. Sasuke turned to look at the helpers and saw wide-eyes and shock on their faces as well. Had he missed something? Naruto Uzumaki sounded like a pretty normal name to him, so why did everyone look so appalled and revolted?

Yamato cleared his throat loudly to break the silence before saying "O-okay, that's all for now everyone. Thank you for introducing yourselves. You now have a two hour break to go and make friends or do whatever before we have dinner. We'll meet back down here at 7:15pm."

Everyone slowly got up from their seats and started to whisper as they left the main hall, but Naruto just sat there, staring at the ground. Sasuke got up and walked towards the exit leading to his room, turning round only once to glance at the blonde who remained where he was. As he passed Shikamaru and his large friend, he overheard part of their conversation.

"To think we'd have him with us. I mean, are they even allowed to put him in with us? He's a murderer.." Chouji said quietly.

Shikamaru looked briefly over at Naruto before replying, "By law he's not though. The case was never proved, plus he was just a kid when it happened and he was in shock…but still, just looking at him makes me feel uneasy. C'mon Chouji, let's get away from him." The tall brunette finished before he and his friend continued up the stairs and out of sight.

' _A murderer?!_ ' Sasuke thought to himself in shock. Had he missed something in the news in the years after his own family traged?

Walking up the stairs and into his room, he shut the door firmly behind him and pulled out his laptop from his bag, putting it on the desk. Once it'd turned on, he opened his browser and typed in 'Uzumaki Murder' before hitting enter. The teen scrolled down the list of returned results before scrolling back up and clicking on the first link. An online news page appeared before him, the article titled "Mayor and wife brutally murdered in own home". Scrolling down, Sasuke started to read the article before him.

"At 7am this morning, Minato Uzumaki and his wife Kushina were found dead in their home, after being stabbed to death. Minato, Konoha's young mayor, was loved by almost everyone in the city and his beautiful wife Kushina was extremely popular too, however it appears someone didn't fit with the trends as the mayor and his wife, both aged 33, were found dead in their home at the centre of Konoha, a knife piercing their bodies. It is thought they were killed around 10pm last night. So far, police have not arrested anyone on suspicion of the murder, but the evidence that has been collected points to their 7 year old son, Naruto. Although it may seem unlikely, the child was the only one thought to be at the scene and fingerprints on the large knife which belong to the boy also point towards him being guilty. He is currently in shock but as soon as he recovers the police will interrogate him thoroughly."

He stopped reading and stared at the page for a while, not believing what he'd just read. The kid's parents had been murdered, at the age of 7 and they were blaming him?! What's more, people actually believed this? From what he'd seen so far, this murder had been pretty well known, and that wasn't really surprising seen as it'd been the mayor that was murdered. But does that mean that everyone who knew of the murder suspected Naruto for killing his parents? Sasuke clicked the back arrow and started to read the other articles that had come up. All of them said the same thing, Naruto was the prime suspect; he was the one who killed them.

 _'No wonder he hadn't wanted to say his last name, if that's the effect it has.._ ' The raven said quietly to himself, leaning back in his chair.

He'd always hated having to introduce himself as an Uchiha because the moment he said it, he was no longer thought of as a person. He was thought of as the poor orphan boy who lost all his family; nobody wanted to know the real him! But for Naruto it'd be a thousand times worse..at least when they found out Sasuke was an Uchiha they were nice even if it was just because they felt sorry for him. When the blonde told people his name, he was immediately hated. But then again, if the case hadn't ever been proved, surely that could mean that Naruto had been the one to kill his parents? The raven shook his head. No, the pain in the boy's eyes when he'd had to say his name was too strong, Sasuke was almost 100% sure that Naruto hadn't killed them. The teen got up from his desk and stretched before closing his laptop and putting it back in its bag.

The blonde's unnecessarily peppy personality had been annoying, but guilt now pooled in Sasuke's stomach for pointing out that Naruto hadn't given his last name. ' _Why have you got to be so spiteful?_ ' He cursed to himself, walking over to his bed with a sigh and laying down.

Naruto felt the stares of hatred on him as soon as the words left his mouth and he dropped his gaze to the floor once more, not bearing to look up and meet the eyes of the people around him. The silence was thick for a couple of seconds before Yamato cleared his throat and told them they could go for now. He heard the others get up and start to whisper, and he knew it was about him, it always was. He could feel their eyes boring into back as they left, hating him for a crime he never committed. He could remember the events of that night like it was only yesterday: He'd been having trouble sleeping so he decided to get up to get a glass of water. As he was making his way downstairs, he'd heard an odd noise coming from the kitchen, sort of like a crunch. Curious as to what it could be, Naruto had hurried down the last few steps and rounded the corner into the kitchen to see a sight that would forever be burned into his memory. His parents were laid on the kitchen floor, a growing pool of blood beneath them and a huge butcher's knife stabbed through their chests. For a moment Naruto had just stood there shaking and staring, not wanting to believe what was before his eyes. He'd run over to his parents and tried to tug the weapon out of their bodies but he was too weak and it was too late; his parents were dead. Their eyes were open, colour drained from their normally rosy cheeks, hearts pierced and no longer beating.

"It c-can't be" he'd whispered, stumbling over backwards and shuffling away from his parent's corpses. "They can't be dead. They can't. They can't.." he trailed off, feeling the tears rolling down his face. He'd started to hyperventilate and remembered his head hitting the cold kitchen floor and then he'd passed out.

The sound of a chair scraping dragged Naruto out of his memories and he looked just enough up to see Deidara sitting down across the circle from him.

' _What's he doing here?_ ' Naruto thought to himself. The teen glanced up at the clock and was surprised to see it was already 7:13pm. He'd spent 2 hours lost in his memories without even realising. Quickly wiping the tears from his cheeks, he looked back down at the floor, not wanting to risk making eye contact with the other blonde sat across from him. Naruto knew everyone already hated him from the looks of disgust he'd been given earlier but he didn't want to make them hate him even more, after all he had to spend the next 27 days with them. The blonde remained as he was; eyes on the floor until he heard all 10 pairs of footsteps enter the room and sit down. Yamato then began to speak once more:

"Okay, I hope you all had chance to speak to one another and get better associated. Now it's time for dinner, which will be held in the dining room. I'd like Ino and Chouji to stay behind a moment but if the rest of you would like to follow Hinata and Ten-Ten, they'll show you to the dining room."

The blonde waited for 8 of the pairs of feet to get up and walk away from the circle before getting up and following at a distance. As he passed Ino, who was talking to Yamato about what her diet and medication would be like, he actually felt her tense up as if him brushing passed her would somehow damage her. He wasn't a germ for Christ's sake! Keeping his head down, the blonde followed the feet in front of him until they entered another room and chairs appeared in his line of vision. He looked up and saw a long table with 14 seats along it, 7 each side. Everyone had sat near the middle of the table, presumably leaving room for the helpers at one end. Deidara was on the end nearest to him so Naruto instinctively went to go and take the seat next to him, however just before he was going to sit down, a pair of feet which belonged to the long haired blonde appeared on the seat.

"This seat is taken." Deidara said without looking up, his voice dripping with hatred.

Naruto nodded numbly and slowly took the seat next to that being occupied by Deidara's feet, the one on the far end. By now, Chouji and Ino and the other helpers had entered and were sat down as well, talking away happily while waiting for the cook to bring in their food.

The blonde stared at the table, thinking about the day's events. His uncle and aunt, Jiraiya and Tsunade had sent him here in order to get help. Out of everyone Naruto knew, they were the ones who cared about him most, but the teen also knew deep down that they only cared for him because he reminded them of Minato, his father and Jiraiya's beloved little brother. He wished whoever had killed his father had killed him instead! Minato was kind, funny, clever, handsome, and a brilliant mayor; everyone loved him. Nobody loved Naruto, not a single person, so why did it have to be this way?! Naruto looked up when a plate of food was placed in front of him. He wasn't hungry but he picked up his fork anyway and played around with the food on his plate. The blonde thought back to when he was little, to when he'd get home from school and be greeted by the smell of cakes baking in the oven and his mother smiling at him. To when his father would get home from work and pick him up and spin them round and round until they fell into a laughing heap on the floor. To when-

"Naruto!" An exasperated call of his name snapped him out of his memories and he looked across the table to see a boy with black hair smirking at him.

"Finally. That was the 5th time I've called your name. You might just be as stupid as you look. I was asking you to pass the ketchup." the boy said before gesturing to the bottle sat next to Naruto in the far corner of the table.

"Get it yourself, lazy fuck." Naruto shot back. This was the guy who had made him state his name in the circle.

"Bitter about earlier?" The boy looked exasperated, as if what he was about to say made him cringe. "Look, I didn't realise you had a cursed name too...Sorry."

Naruto was confused. _Was that...an apology?_ He reached and grabbed the bottle, placing it in-front of the raven's plate, who just nodded back at him and picked it up to use.

' _Maybe he really didn't have ill intent?_ ' Naruto thought to himself. ' _The way he just spoke to me...he didn't sound like he hated me?_ '

A tiny smile appeared on the blonde's face: Someone had actually talked to him, and not in a mean way! Naruto looked back up at the boy sat across from him and took in his features. He had black hair that stuck up at the back and a fringe that mostly covered his forehead. His face was well defined, with prominent cheekbones and a nice jaw line and his eyes were a black that looked almost red when the light caught them. The boy, named Sasuke if Naruto had remembered rightly, looked up to see Naruto staring at him. The blonde blushed slightly and looked back down at his plate, picking up his fork once more and moving the food around without any intention of eating it. Naruto had realised he was gay over a year ago but it was still embarrassing when he caught himself admiring another guy's looks.

Dinner ended soon afterwards and Yamato announced that they would be starting their treatments tomorrow so they should go and get a good night's rest.

"You have already been shown to your rooms, however you may or may not realise the situation on bathrooms. This centre is newly opened and somewhat of a trial run so the building wasn't made as big as some other centres, and because of that bathrooms will be shared one between two, apart from you, Ino. As the only girl, you get your own bathroom. For the rest of you, this means whoever has the room next to yours will also have a door into your bathroom. There are locks on the inside so your neighbours cannot get in while you're using the area but please be courteous that others will be using the space and not to leave it in an unclean or unpleasant state. That's all for tonight and I will see you all in the morning." Yamato finished.

' _Sharing a bathroom? Ughh!_ ' Naruto thought to himself. That's all he needed! Not only was he going to have to deal with everyone hating him in and around the centre, but even when he resided to his own room, but the guy next door might be planning ways to torture him while he slept!

Naruto waited for most of the others to leave before clearing his plate and heading up towards his room. As he turned the corner into the corridor where his room was, a hand slammed into his chest causing him to look up, startled. Deidara's insane eyes loomed back at him as the older blonde's hand closed round his neck and Naruto found himself being slammed into the wall.

"Look here, freak. I don't know what they're playing at, letting someone like you stay with us, but I ain't having any of it, hm! You may not have done anything yet, but I know you're planning to do something." Deidara grinned menacingly at Naruto, tightening his grip around the blonde's throat and causing him to gasp in an attempt to take in air.

"You try anything nasty and I'll stuff you full of explosives and blow you up, just like you deserve! Murderous scum will get what you deserve in the end anyway." The taller blonde finished before releasing his grasp around the other's neck and letting him fall to the floor gasping for air. "Oh and one more thing, freak. Let's keep this little meeting between just the two of us, hm? We wouldn't want any fires starting now, would we?" Deidara finished before turning his back on the gasping blonde on the floor and walking up the corridor and out of sight.

Naruto sat there on the cold floor for a moment, shaking and struggling to breathe. He was trying to think through what'd just happened, if he'd done anything to provoke it. The blonde couldn't think of anything he'd done, but then again, it wasn't unusual for him to be picked on him just for his reputation. Still shaking, the teen slowly got to his feet and walked dazedly over to his room. Hands fumbled with the key and finally it opened and he stumbled in, not bothering to turn on the light. Naruto sat down on the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands. What had he done to deserve all this? He'd lost count of the number of times he'd been punched, kicked, cut and knocked-out just because of the rumours. Some people might've fought back in his situation. Naruto wasn't weak, physically. In fact, the blonde went to the gym weekly and had gotten himself some respectable muscles, but it was only to toughen up, so he could take the blows easier. He wasn't going to fight back and become the monster they thought he was. But he couldn't take it anymore, the abuse was too much. Part of the reason he'd agreed to come to this centre was to escape the bullies back in Konoha. The ones who waited for Naruto after school to call him names, kick him and punch him and leave him bloodied and unconscious in the street. But if it was going to be the same here, there was no point. He'd thought he might be able to get help here, find a new hope but he'd been wrong. There wasn't a place for him anywhere. It wasn't like anyone was going to miss him anyway. He was Naruto Uzumaki: the boy who killed his own parents, or so they all thought, why would anybody be sad if he was gone? If anything, it'd be the opposite. Nobody loved him, and nobody ever would.

These thoughts swirling around his head, Naruto got up numbly and walked over to his bag. He rummaged around inside until he finally found what he was looking for. Making his way into the bathroom, the teen managed to extract one of the large blades from his new razor using a pair of tweezers he'd found in one of the cupboards. He flipped it over in his hands, running his fingers roughly along the sharp edge and drawing blood but barely noticing. The boy's mind was blank now, like it always was when he was suicidal. Not wanting to wait any longer, Naruto turned over the blade and pressed it hard to his wrist feeling its sharp edge cut into his flesh. He kept pressing downwards, wincing slightly as the blood oozed out and dripped onto the edge of the sink. When he felt it go deep enough, Naruto held the razor tightly between his fingers, took a deep breath and sliced the blade across the remaining width of his wrist. The dark liquid he was so familiar with flowed out of the wound, splattering onto the floor and covering his arm. The blonde started to feel light-headed and he stumbled back into his room and over to his bed, leaving a trail of blood as he went. Naruto lay down on his bed as he cradled his arm and closed his eyes, wishing and praying that he'd never open them again. He could feel himself losing consciousness as he took one last breath before passing out, his body surrounded by the growing pool of blood beneath him.

 **Please review and let me know what you think! New chapter coming tomorrow hopefully.**

 **Cover art by Emi / 10-Rankai.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm actually not editing these much as its hard to edit something which is already written in a style much different to how I would write these days. When I catch up with where I stopped writing, it will be interesting if I can stay consistent with how the previous chapters were written, considering I wrote these almost 6 years ago. Anyway, hope you enjoy. Please fav and review! - E**

 **Note: This fic switches between Naruto and Sasuke's POV. Whenever there's a - it means its switched. Also, things in** ** _italics_** **are internal thoughts from whoever the section is currently being written in the perspective of. I hope that makes sense.**

 **Warning: Throughout this fic there are; Mentions of eating disorders, drugs, addiction, murder. Descriptive suicide/self harm. Bad language. NSFW scenes (later in the fic). Basically don't read if you're particularly sensitive to anything lol, its pretty depressing and kinda graphic at parts.**

 **REHAB - CHAPTER 2**

Sasuke had heard the loud bump noise as he was making his way up the stairs towards his room. Peering round the corner into the corridor ahead, the raven could see Deidara holding Naruto up against the wall by the throat.

"Murderous scum will get what you deserve in the end anyway." the older blonde had spat into Naruto's face.

Sasuke winced inwardly at what had just been said. Deidara finally released Naruto and the crow watched as the blonde dropped to the floor, clutching his chest and gasping for air. Sasuke could see the long haired blonde saying something to Naruto, who was still on the floor, but because of the distance he couldn't hear what it was. The raven continued to watch from behind the corner wall as the older blonde walked away leaving Naruto alone in the corridor. Sasuke could see now that the boy was shaking visibly from head to toe but he still pulled himself onto his feet and walked, almost robotically, to his room which happened to be next to the Uchiha's.

 _'Looks like I'll be sharing a bathroom with him.'_ The crow observed.

Naruto finally managed to open his door after plenty of fumbling around and stepped inside. The coast was now clear, and Sasuke made his way round the corner and into the corridor. He stood there for a while, leaning against the door thinking about what he'd just witnessed. Sasuke was pretty sure Naruto hadn't done anything to provoke Deidara, I mean; he didn't move the whole 2 hour break and didn't speak to anyone other than a brief exchange of words with himself at dinner. But then again, Sasuke had seen the slightly insane look in Deidara's eyes right from the beginning. The crow wouldn't put it past him to attack Naruto without the younger blonde actually doing or saying anything against him. Sasuke was a bit confused about one thing though. Deidara might've been older than Naruto, but the younger blonde was taller and certainly bigger in the muscles department. He probably wouldn't have much trouble pushing Deidara off if he'd have wanted to..

 _Oh well, not my problem._ Standing upright and walking towards his room, he unlocked the door and sat down on his bed, thinking about the blonde next door.

 _'Stop it Sasuke. Sure, you just saw him get beat up a little but he seemed fine. Stop feeling sorry for him just because you know nobody else will! The guy can probably take care of himself by now.'_

The Uchiha shook himself and got up, going over to his wardrobe to find a clean pair of boxers. Pyjamas had never been his thing and he'd gotten into a habit of sleeping in just his underwear. Pulling out a pair, the raven stripped off his shirt and jeans and made his way over to the bathroom. He would shower and then go to bed and forget all about what he'd seen in the corridor. He didn't want to get involved in Naruto's problems just because he felt sorry for the guy! Sasuke stopped as he felt he bare foot step into something wet on the floor. He looked down in irritation as he saw his foot surrounded by blood.

"Oh jesus christ!" The raven exclaimed loudly, looking up to see the blood splatters on the sink as well and more further across the bathroom tiles, leading towards the blonde's room.

 _"Oh shit he didn't.."_ Sasuke trailed off as his thoughts went to the nights he'd felt like complete useless garbage, worthless and like scum. The nights when he'd pressed the blades to his wrists and crossed his fingers in the hope that would be the last time he ever closed his eyes.

Dropping his clean underwear on the floor, the crow hurried to the door on the other side of the bathroom, the one that led into Naruto's room. He tried the handle and was surprised that it opened. The blonde's room was dark, only the light from the bathroom illuminating the bed opposite where Sasuke could see a person under the sheets. The Uchiha ran across the room and over to the blonde's side and turning him over to face him. Naruto's face was deathly pale, a huge contrast to him arms and sheets which were dyed the deep red of blood.

"Naruto! Naruto! Wake up!"

The raven shook him again with no response. He bent his head over the blonde's face and waited for breath to hit he cheek but there was none.

 _"Don't die don't die don't die"_ Sasuke thought, opening the blonde's mouth before tipping back his head to open his airways, connecting their lips and breathing air into Naruto's empty lungs.

 _'One, two, three, four..'_ Sasuke counted as he tried desperately to get the blonde to breathe.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the crow saw Naruto's chest rise a little and then fall before rising again. He was breathing. Thank god. Not wanting to risk waiting any longer, Sasuke dashed out of Naruto's room not caring that wasn't wearing anything but his boxers and ran down the corridor and down the stairs into the main hall, only to find it empty. He turned back out again and sprinted down the corridor, heading for the nurses room. The Uchiha saw light through the windows and silently thanked his luck that someone was there. Bursting in not bothering the knock, the crow found Sakura, the centre's nurse who had bright pink hair and large green eyes sorting out papers at her desk. Looking up, the girl blushed a little at the sight that greeted her but didn't have chance to admire Sasuke's toned body before the raven's hands slammed onto her desk and he almost yelled

"Naruto tried to commit again. There was blood in our bathroom and I found him unconscious. We need an ambulance now!" The urgency in Sasuke's voice was clear. As Sakura picked up the phone and dialled 999, Sasuke crossed his fingers and wished with all he'd got that Naruto would be alright.

Naruto watched the scene over and over, his mind replaying the moment he'd walked into the kitchen and found them dead. Their faces, so cold and lifeless, a sight he knew he'd never forget. The blonde suddenly noticed the beeping noise in the background. It sounded somewhat muffled, but it was definitely there and getting progressively louder. The scene before his eyes started to fade and he could see light through his eyelids. Naruto recognised the scenario; he'd been in this position a number of times before.

Opening his eyes, the teen saw long, strip lights above his head. He looked to the side and saw a heart monitor beside him, beeping steadily and letting everyone around him that, sadly, his heart was still beating and he was alive. The blonde tried to shift himself and sit up but was greeted with a throbbing pain in both his head and arm and the sound of the heart monitor's beeps increasing. He slid back down into the hospital bed, closed his eye and sighed. Why had anyone saved him? Nobody cared enough to look after him when he wasn't in danger, so why did they have to suddenly appear just when he was finally going to find peace?!

The teen looked up when a blonde woman entered the room, followed by a man with lots of white hair and a younger woman he didn't recognise. The blonde woman stomped over to his bed and Naruto gasped as he felt her palm slap across his face.

"Lady Tsunade! Please refrain from doing such things; he's still very weak right now, however fast he may heal." The unknown woman said. Naruto looked at her more closely and realised she was wearing the hospital's uniform, meaning she was probably the nurse that had been looking after him. She had short dark hair and looked quite young. He strained his eyes to read the badge she wore and saw her name was Shizune.

Tsunade grunted her acknowledgement at what the nurse had said before turning her full attention back to Naruto and fixing him with a murderous glare.

"Naruto Uzumaki! How could you?! You promised us that if you went to this rehabilitation centre you'd try your absolute best to resolve your problem! You promised! You'd only been there a day and yet this is how we find you?!" The woman gestured to Naruto with vague wave of her manicured hand.

Despite only looking in her mid thirties, Tsunade who was 5th Mayor of Konoha and Naruto's Auntie was infact well over fifty years old. She was wife of Jiraiya, Minato's older brother and so the two had taken Naruto into their own care when his parents had been killed.

"You need to stop this, not only for your sake, but for mine and your uncles." Tsunade spoke more softly this time, bending down to sit of the edge of Naruto's bed and take his hand in hers. "You were so close this time Naruto. When you were found you weren't even breathing… You don't realise how much you mean to us. Jiraiya and I already lost your parents; we can't lose you as well. Your life is more precious than you think." Tsunade looked into Naruto's eyes and the teen could see the sadness within them, but he still couldn't believe her fully. Somewhere deep down, he knew that a large amount of their love for him came from his resemblance to both his parents who they loved so dearly.

"I'm sorry.." the blonde closed his eyes for a moment before the question from before popped back into his head. "By the way, which of the helpers found me?"

The nurse who was still stood at the back of the room stepped over to the side of his bed before speaking "Actually Mr. Uzumaki, it wasn't a helper. It was the boy who shares your bathroom with you. His name is Sasuke if I remember rightly. He actually requested that we ring the KRC once you wake up so he knows you're okay!" She finished.

"It seems you finally made a friend without realising, kid!" Jiraiya chimed in from the end of the teen's hospital bed.

Naruto sat for a moment; he wasn't sure what to feel. He was shocked. Someone actually wanted him to live? But then he started to feel anger welling up inside him, bubbling away like acid in the pit of his stomach. Why did he save him?! Out of everyone at the centre, why did Sasuke save him? Sure, maybe he wanted the blonde to live for some unknown reason, but that was just being selfish! Naruto led a detestable life that he'd tried time and time again to end, and this time he'd been so close! And after all, Sasuke was suicidal too! He should know how it felt, how horrible it was to wake up and find you're still living your miserable life that you'd wished so desperately would end.

"I'm going to go and ring the centre to say you're well and tell them to tell Sasuke. Would you like me to give them a message on your behalf, Mr. Uzumaki?" Shizune's words brought him back to reality and Naruto thought for a moment before replying

"Tell him I say he's a selfish bastard and he needs to stay the fuck out of my life."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry I was a day late to upload this, I've been busy. I also noticed that the entire way through this fic I spelt psychiatrist wrong the first time I uploaded it. How embarrassing.**  
 **I'm not gonna do warnings up here anymore since if you're on chapter three you surely know what you're getting yourself into.**  
 **As always, reviews are welcome!  
\- E**

 **Note: This fic switches between Naruto and Sasuke's POV. Whenever there's - it means its switched. Also, things in** ** _italics_** **are internal thoughts from whoever the section is currently being written in the perspective of. I hope that makes sense.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of it's characters.**

 **REHAB - CHAPTER 3**

His Uchiha pride had been trodden on, and he wasn't going to forgive the offender. It was not very often that an Uchiha felt caring enough towards another as to offer his hand out and help them, and when that helping hand was rejected, things would turn nasty. A certain blonde idiot had refused that helping hand and now Sasuke was mad. The raven had felt real concern for Naruto when he'd found him lying unconscious, surrounded by his own blood. Concern that he hadn't felt in a long time. He'd really wished with all his might that the blonde would be okay. He'd paced the corridors outside Naruto's room, waiting for the information that the other teen was okay and felt so relieved when he'd received that information. But now, Naruto had pushed away his offer of friendship and rejected him completely. And so it would begin.

' _Lesson number one, Naruto Uzumaki, never get on the bad side of an Uchiha.'_

Naruto had been given another chance at the KRC. Yamato had come to talk to him in hospital about his place at the centre and he'd told the blonde that they'd give him one more chance at helping him get over his problem. Naruto had taken that chance. So here he was, laid in his bed, spending his first night at the Rehabilitation centre, and all he could think about was the boy next door. The teen hadn't seen Sasuke since he'd arrived, which he was sort of glad about, but he had also wanted to confirm that the raven haired boy had got his message.

' _Stop thinking about it!_ ' he thought to himself, turning over in bed for about the tenth time. ' _He definitely got the message otherwise he would've surely come to greet you when you arrived back here. Now just go to sleep okay?_ ' The blonde closed his eyes and cleared his mind and hoped tomorrow might be better than the last day he'd spent at the centre.

Everything was going according to plan. He hadn't bumped into the ungrateful blonde yet, and that was mostly out of luck. Now all he needed to do was wait for an opening, and it looked as if the gods were on his side today!

"Oh and Naruto, I need to speak you at the end of breakfast please. Okay that's all folks, please have a productive morning and I'll see you for lunch in a couple of hours." Yamato had finished his morning talk and everyone started to get up and leave the table.

Now was Sasuke's chance to glean a little information on the blonde. As Naruto walked up to Yamato, the raven slowly got up out of his seat while very subtly listening in to their conversation.

"Naruto, although I have given you another chance at getting over your problem, I'm afraid to say I don't fully trust you on taking care of yourself just yet. So you'll be getting a room check every 2 days to make sure you don't have any…dangerous objects lying around. Are we clear? This is all for your own good remember. You'll be having a check tonight at around 8pm okay? I'll speak to you a little more about this matter later."

Naruto sighed but nodded and added "Yes Dr. Mokuton."

' _Bingo._ ' This is just what Sasuke had been looking for. Now to put the plan into action. The raven haired teen smirked as he walked out of the dining hall, plotting as he went.

Naruto looked up from his desk as he heard the knock on his door.

"It's open, come in!" He shouted. Yamato entered the room and closed the door behind him, walking over to stand next to the blonde.

"Hello again Naruto. You like to draw eh?" the older man said, peering over Naruto's shoulder at the piece of paper on the desk in front of them.

Naruto had liked drawing and sketching ever since he was little. He used to draw his parents and him outside a colourful brick house when he was younger, but now his sketches were only ever in black and white and he couldn't remember the last time he'd actually finished any of his art. The drawing on the desk was simple. It was a small boy stood on a roof top, looking over the edge at the people passing by below him. Something was slightly disturbing about the sketch but Yamato couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Okay well I'm going to start searching your room now. Feel free to carry on drawing or whatever, I don't mind." With that said Yamato moved away from the desk and started searching through Naruto's wardrobe.

Although he knew he had nothing to hide, it made him sort of edgy sitting there while his psychiatrist searched through all his belongings. Turning back to his artwork, the blonde started to draw the eyes of the passers by, creating large, scribbled patches on their faces instead of realistic features. He'd been drawing them like this for as long as he could remember; the faces of those who hated him. Eyes which stared and bore into his own, he couldn't draw them as human if they didn't feel human.

"Naruto." The sternness in the man's voice made him tense a little as he turned to see Dr. Mokuton standing over his suitcase, a grim look on his face.

"Naruto you promised me that you'd got rid of them all." he said, lifting his hand and showing the teen the razor blade he was holding.

Naruto's heart stopped for a second, his mind whirling. He had got rid of them all! It's not like he'd brought a supply anyway; 2 razors, one electric and the other was the one he'd dismantled for 'use' three days back. But this was a different razor, this didn't belong to him!

"It's not mine! I swear I only have one left and that's the one you said I could keep because it's an electric razor so it's safe!" The blonde said desperately, trying to figure out where the new razor had come from.

"Naruto, how am I supposed to believe that when it's in your room, with your stuff? But really, I expected more...I'm going to have to speak to Tsunade about your place here. I'm sorry but there's just no point if you're not going to put the effort in" The man's face looked sad and disappointed as he turned and walked out of the teen's room, leaving a distraught Naruto standing alone, not quite sure how to react.

The other side of the bathroom door, Sasuke tried hard to keep a straight face as he heard the blonde protest. Oh how perfectly his plan had gone! He hadn't even had to pick the lock because the idiot had been stupid enough to leave his room unlocked.

Unlike Naruto, the raven had brought along several razors and various other blades. His addiction to self-harming was quite severe and it wasn't like he'd wanted to come in the first place. Blades could also be useful for many other things, so the raven had decided to come prepared. He'd only agreed to come to shut Kakashi up and get out of the house for a bit. As much as he appreciated his grey-haired guardian, the man could be a little too much to be around for long periods at a time.

Moving away from the door and out of the bathroom, Sasuke sat down on his bed and thought for a moment. His plan had gone brilliantly with not a single flaw, but this wasn't enough. The revenge of an Uchiha was not something to be taken lightly, even if this wasn't a serious act of vengeance. Sasuke knew what real revenge felt like: the desire to destroy someone completely for what they had done to you. But this wasn't the same; Sasuke did not intend to destroy Naruto, merely to make him suffer. And so far, it was going rather well indeed, but the next stage of the plan would make it even better. And the stupid blonde still wouldn't realize that it was him who was behind all. No, he'd lurk in the shadows, controlling it all without having to take any blows himself. He snickered; this was going to be fun.

It was just after lunch when the raven finally saw an opportunity to speak to Yamato alone. The others had left the table and the physiatrist was speaking to Hinata about something. When the pale eye girl had turned to leave, Sasuke saw his chance and approached the older man.

"Dr. Mokuton?" Sasuke asked in a nonchalant tone. He had to do this carefully. Not too much care but not as if he was stirring something up.

"Ah, Sasuke. What is it?" Yamato asked, slightly surprised to see the raven haired boy speaking to him. So far Sasuke had kept mostly to himself and wasn't exactly the most talk-active person he'd ever met.

The teen kept his face emotionless as he spoke "It's about the time Naruto attempted to kill himself. I think I might know a little more about the situation?"

"Oh? Please, if there is anything you think would help with Naruto's treatment or problems, do tell us. We're having quite a lot of trouble with the boy at the moment.."

Sasuke fought hard to keep the smirk off his face.

"Well, that night as I was on my way to my room when I heard a loud thud. A looked round the corner into the corridor which leads to my room and I saw Deidara holding Naruto up against the wall. He was threatening him as well. When Deidara let him go, Naruto looked pretty shaken up." Sasuke had thought hard about what to say. Don't release enough information to get Deidara kicked out, but enough to get him in pretty big trouble.

"He did what?!" The shock in Yamato's voice was evident as he looked at the boy in front of him. Sure, Deidara wasn't the gentlest guy in the centre and he was older than the rest but he didn't expect anyone here to be doing such things. "Did you hear what he was saying?"

"I couldn't really hear what he was saying, but I could hear that he didn't sound too friendly. Don't mention to anyone that I was the one to tell you. I don't want to be known as a snitch."

Yamato cleared his throat, trying to put together what he'd just heard. "Okay well thank you very much for telling us Sasuke. Don't worry; you'll remain an anonymous source as far as everyone else is concerned. We'll be having words with Deidara immediately."

Seeing that as his cue to leave, the crow turned and walked out of the dining hall, into the corridor leading to the stairs. He let the smirk he'd been holding back earlier spread across his face as he made his way up the stairs and to his room. They had group activities the rest of the afternoon and by the evening he was sure Yamato would've had his talk with Deidara, so that was his time to act. Smiling at his own cunning, Sasuke lay down on his bed, put in his earphones and stared up at the ceiling, losing himself in his own mind.

A few hours passed and Sasuke sat up, removing his earphones and wrapping the wire round themselves, placing them neatly at the end of his bed. ' _It's time_.' he thought to himself. He'd been waiting all day for this moment and now he was almost excited by the prospect of causing a little trouble. Exiting his own room, he turned right and continued down the corridor until he reached a door leading to the next set of rooms. Deidara's room.

The crow hesitated for a moment before stretching out his hand and knocking on the door. It opened seconds later to reveal the older blonde looking frustrated.

"Uchiha. What do you want? I was in the middle of something, hm." His voice was sour and the look on his face was one of slight annoyance.

' _Looks like Yamato spoke to him then._ '

Sasuke thought smugly before replying in a cool tone, "I've got some information I thought you might be interested in. It's about a little something I overheard earlier. Something about you and a certain blonde idiot?" He left his sentences short and ambiguous, looking for a reaction in the man opposite him.

Deidara's eyes widened slightly but he soon regained the aloof look he'd had on his face originally.

"What about it? You know who snitched? Yamato came and had a good yell at me earlier, hm." That hadn't been a pleasant experience. The psychiatrist seemed to have a knack of making others very uncomfortable when he wanted to.

"Actually, I do. It was Naruto. I overheard him telling Dr. Mokuton what happened so I thought I'd come and tell you." Sasuke allowed his lips to curl upwards very slightly making him look somewhat mischievous.

A look of shock washed over his face, quickly replaced by anger. He didn't think that Naruto was brave enough to go against what he'd said. He'd thought someone had just overheard their conversation and thought to tell on him.

"He did what?! Fucking bastard! I'll fucking kill him!"

The blonde man turned around to head back into his room, turning to look at Sasuke before shutting the door. His pupils contracted in a way that made him look utterly insane, and he had a smile on his face that meant nothing but trouble. "Thanks for the information, kid."

The day's group counselling session was over and Naruto had no other sessions that day. He was relieved to have the afternoon off to relax a little as the treatment was taking a bigger toll on his body than he'd originally thought it would.

Pushing his door open, the blonde reminded himself that he really ought to lock his door before leaving but then remembered how forgetful he was of his key and how he'd probably lock himself out. Turning back around in the dark room after closing the door, the teen's breath caught in his throat as he felt himself being put into a familiar position. A switched flicked and suddenly the room was filled with light. Deidara stood in front of him, grinning menacingly while his hand clasped around the younger blonde's throat. Naruto's throat stung as he tried to swallow the saliva that was building up in his mouth causing him to start choking. After regaining his breath, the teen looked up with blurry eyes at the man holding him in place.

"W-what do you want?" he managed to ask whilst gasping for air.

Deidara looked at the boy for a moment then threw back his head and laughed. He stopped and looked back at Naruto, eye's cold with no trace of humour within them.

"What do I want? WHAT DO I WANT?!" The man's voice rose hysterically as he spat into Naruto's face. "I thought we had a deal, Uzumaki! You weren't gonna tell anyone about our little...encounter, hm?" He felt Deidara hand tighten around his throat and he gasped desperately for air that wasn't reaching his empty lungs.

"I didn't tel-" Naruto tried to choke out the words but he couldn't finish before he was yanked sharply forwards before being slammed back into the wall. He felt pain shoot across his skull and was only slightly aware of the warm wetness he could feel soaking into his hair.

"Don't lie to me! I know you told them! Told them what I did and what I said." Deidara paused for a moment and took a deep breath before continuing in a quieter, more sinister tone.

"You remember what I said would happen if you didn't keep your mouth shut, hmm? Explosives might find their way into your room and cause you a little…trouble?"

The blonde's vision was starting to blur and he could feel the blood trickling down his neck from where his head had hit the wall. He didn't even see the fist before it impacted with his face, smashing into his nose and making a loud crunch.

"Well luckily for you, freak, I don't have any explosives right now. Fuckin' centre has taken them all away from me! But that's not a problem, I have other means of inflicting pain upon those I dislike, and unfortunately for you, I dislike you greatly."

Another fist slammed straight into Naruto's stomach, winding him and causing his legs to give way. He fell to the ground, hitting his head again as it smacked onto the cold, tiled flooring. A boot swung forward and hit his chest and Naruto felt a couple of his ribs crunch. He was then lifted by his hair to knee height before receiving a powerful punch to his face. Deidara released his grip on the blonde spikes and Naruto's head impacted with the floor once more; making a satisfactory cracking sound as the teen's already fragile nose broke. Naruto felt his ankle snap as the older man's shoe stomped down on the joint, crushing the bone and making him cry out in pain.

He could feel blood gushing out of his many wounds but he managed to look up one at Deidara's smirking face one last time before the world started to spin and he lost consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**REHAB CHAPTER 4**

 _'Had it been a mistake to take it that far? Did he really deserve it?_ ' These thoughts had been swirling round his head since the announcement had been made that Deidara had been arrested for assault; since Naruto had been taken to hospital for a second time, and hadn't returned since.

He hadn't seen his body, but from what he'd heard, the blonde was pretty badly injured. Hinata had been the one to find him, visiting his room for the routine check to make sure he wasn't hiding blades anywhere. She'd found him bloodied and unconscious on the floor and the teen had been rushed to hospital. All the remaining residents of the rehabilitation centre had been called downstairs immediately for a meeting in the main hall. Yamato had announced that Naruto had been attacked and whoever had done it should come forward before a serious investigation had to take place.

Deidara had started to laugh, loud and cruel. He'd asked why Yamato cared. He said Naruto was a monster and he'd gotten off lightly with just a beating up and that Naruto had deserved a lot worse. That's when the police had been called and Deidara was arrested for assault after admitting that it was him who attacked the teen and that he was proud of it.

Sasuke had wondered at the time whether the charge would've been more severe if the victim was somebody else, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He didn't care what happened to Naruto. But it had been three days since that happened and the blonde still wasn't back. Even after trying to convince himself that he could not care less what happened to the boy, Sasuke was still worrying about what might've happened to Naruto. He pushed back the thoughts of guilt, knowing he shouldn't have taken it so far. Afterall, the last time Deidara assaulted the blonde, it had been the cherry on the cake for pushing him to attempt to take his life again.

' _You always take it too far_ ' he thought to himself angrily, raking a hand through his black hair. ' _Your damn pride about being rejected meant you put his life in danger!_ ' Sasuke sighed and just hoped that Naruto wasn't too badly injured.

A few hours later and the door of the main hall opened and Naruto limped in, being supported by a pair of metal crutches and the raven let out a huge sigh of relief he didn't even realize he'd been holding in. Sasuke looked Naruto over, taking a mental note that the blonde seemed to have several different injuries. A broken ankle by the looks of his crutches, a broken nose, the bandages wrapped around the blonde's head suggested some damage to his skull, and the bandage covering his self-inflicted wounds still remained tightly around his wrist. He wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple more injuries that weren't visible.

"Ah, Naruto! Welcome back. We've all been awaiting your safe return." Yamato spoke loudly and gave the blonde a smile..

"I assume you have been told about what happened to Deidara and the legal situation he is in? I'm so sorry that happened, we should've taken better control of him."

"S'okay." Naruto's voice was weak as he finally made it over to his seat in the circle and slumped down into the chair looking exhausted.

The rest of the day passed as usual. Sasuke attended all the necessary meetings he had with his psychiatrists, Yamato and Ten-Ten, and spent his spare time listening to music in his room. At 5'o clock the raven found himself seated at his place at the dining table, pushing his food around his plate and complaining inwardly that there were never enough tomatoes in salads. Yamato suddenly burst into the room, causing everyone to look up at him. His face was a little flushed and he had a glint of excitement in his normally dull eyes.

"Okay everyone, I have some surprising news for you. I got a phone call about 10 minutes ago that an important person has come to Konoha on a business trip and heard about our new Rehabilitation centre and wants to come visit it. They'll be arriving shortly so please be polite and show them the best of Konoha!" With that said, Dr. Mokuton turned and rushed out of the room as quickly as he'd come in.

Chatter suddenly filled the air as everyone turned to one another to speak about the news. From what he could hear from his place at the end of the table, most were wondering who this guest could be.

"Maybe it's a super cool idol? Like a popstar or a totally gorgeous actor!" Ino's voice was loud and excited as she and Sakura contemplated who this mystery visitor was.

Before long, they had finished their meals and had been escorted back to the main hall where they had taken their seats once more to wait for the important person. Naruto was sat nearest the door so it was easiest for him to get out on his crutches though that meant that he had to sit next to Neji, who was not happy about that at all. At long last, footsteps could be heard coming and the doors to the main hall opened. Even Sasuke, who had almost no interest in anything looked around the body next to him to see who would be following Yamato into the room.

Pale eyes rimmed with dark kohl eyeliner and a head of blood red hair made the figure immediately recognisable. He followed Yamato into the room before stepping from behind the man and into full view.

For a moment, everyone just stopped and stared before Naruto launched himself at the Kazekage. They watched in disbelief and horror as the blonde rocketed from his seat and flew at the red haired man before impacting with him and almost knocking them both over. His crutches apparently un-needed as they lay on the floor by his chair while their owner flung his arms round the young mayor's neck.

"NARUTO!" Yamato's voice broke the tension, grabbing Naruto's arms and trying to dislodge him from the Kazekage, but failing as the blonde only tightened his grip on the other man.

"It's alright." Gaara's voice rang out, deep yet clear. He gently pushed Naruto away from himself a little to look him over.

"You've grown." The Kazekage's statement was enough to confuse everyone as they looked at the two men infront of them.

"W-wait. Do you two know each other?" Ino was the first one to speak, the curiosity too overwhelming for her to keep quiet.

Gaara turned his cool gaze to the girl, who shrank back a little in her seat. No matter how hard he tried to seem friendlier, people were still quite intimidated by him.

"We were best friends as children due to our families having influential roles within our respective cities, however we haven't seen each other for 7 or so years." Gaara turned his focus back to Naruto, noticing all his injuries and then glancing at the abandoned crutches on the floor.

"What happened to you Naruto? I was going to come looking for you at some point during the visit to Konoha but I didn't expect to see you here.." His voice was softer now, and the concern for the blonde evident on his face.

Yamato cleared his throat loudly. "Um, would you still like to look around, or would you like to have a little time with Naruto?"

"I wish to talk to him for a minute or two, and then I shall continue my tour. I'm sorry for this interruption." Gaara bowed his head slightly in apology.

Sasuke watched as Naruto picked up his crutches before following the young Kazekage and Yamato out of the room. That sure had been a surprise turn of events he thought to himself, sitting back into his seat. The others were whispering about what had just happened but the raven didn't want to speak to any of them, they were all too annoying.

Yamato soon re-appeared followed by a girl and a boy a couple of years older than Sasuke.

"Okay everyone, Mayor Gaara will be busy for a little while but his siblings, Temari and Kankuro, who are also leading politicians in Sunagakure are here to speak to you. Be friendly please and answer all of their questions as well as you can." With that, the two sand siblings approached the inhabitants of the centre.

Temari was a tall girl with strawberry blonde hair tied up into four spiking bunches. She looked a little intimidating but nothing Sasuke couldn't handle. However she didn't come over to him, instead to Chouji and Shikamaru who took one look at the girl and sat up straight in their seats, for probably the first time ever.

Kankuro was about the same height as his sister and headed over to speak to Shino and Lee.

The places they had sat in the first time they had all gathered in the main hall had become their own sort of seating plan meaning that Sasuke was now sandwiched between the two pairs that were being talked to be the siblings. Unsure of what to do, the crow looked around for some sort of escape but saw none, so instead pulled his iPod from out of his pocket and put in his earphones. The sound of the guitar strumming familiar chords eased him up slightly and the crow relaxed into his chair a little more, letting the noise around him fade as he lost himself in the music.

He'd loved the guitar ever since he was small; begging his father to let him have lessons, and when the man refused Sasuke hadn't given up. He had been stubborn enough to out and buy himself several books and had taught himself. But the crow hadn't thought to bring the instrument with him and now found himself a little at loss when he felt the need to play. So instead he just put in his earphones and let the music free him of reality, even if just for a little while.

When Gaara and Naruto returned, Sasuke stopped his music so he could listen to what was going on. Yamato droned on for a little about what an honour it was having the Kazekage visiting the centre and some other stuff Sasuke couldn't quite pay attention to. Finally the man stopped speaking, and young Mayor of Sunagakure gave a small speech about the importance of centres like this in the development of understanding and accepting mental health and addiction in people's lives. After a short tour of the facilities, led by Yamato, and it was time for the trio to return to their hotel. Before they left, Sasuke saw Gaara quietly ask his sister something, and she disappeared out of the front doors, returning a few minutes later with a package presumably retrieved from their car. The red head then handed it to Naruto and then they were gone and it was time for everyone else to return to their rooms.

At long last, Sasuke found himself in his room, sighing as he collapsed onto his bed. It had been a long day. Ten-Ten had been complaining at him almost the whole of their session about his lack of motivation to get over his problem and Yamato had implied something similar. By the time Gaara and his siblings had left it was almost midnight and Sasuke was just about asleep. He changed quickly into a new pair of boxers and got into bed before realizing he hadn't brushed his teeth. Most people would've just turned over but Sasuke was a bit of a clean freak so he sighed and pushed himself out of the comfort of his warm covers.

He padded over to the bathroom and pulled out his toothbrush and toothpaste. Applying a large amount he brushed his teeth thoroughly before washing out his mouth. He turned to leave the room when he heard an odd noise from behind him. The raven turned round and listened hard, and heard it again. It sounded like crying and it was coming from Naruto's room. He approached the door quietly and listened again for a moment, hearing muffled sobs from the other side of the door.

"Uh hey. Naruto? You okay?" He called out quietly.

Sasuke didn't really want to get involved and he knew Naruto wouldn't want him to either but a part of his conscious he didn't know existed was pulling him towards the blonde in the next room and making him check if he was okay, especially since it was his own fault that the blonde had been beaten so badly in the first place.

There was no reply, so the raven pushed on the door and opened it, stepping inside. Naruto was slumped on the floor against the wall opposite, knees hugged to his chest and face covered by a large book.

"Naruto? Are you okay?" Sasuke said again, a bit louder so he knew the blonde could hear him.

Said blonde looked up and Sasuke flinched a little at the pain he saw on his tear-streaked face.

"What do you want? Just leave me alone will you." The teen's reply was feeble and his breath strained as he spoke. Sasuke could see his shoulders shaking and the tears still rolling down his cheeks.

A part of him was telling him to leave right now, but another part was telling him to make sure the blonde was definitely okay. Sasuke groaned inwardly as the caring part that he hadn't realized still existed until a couple of minutes ago won and the crow found himself walking slowly over to Naruto. He just stood there for a moment, looking down on the crying boy but then slid down the wall and sat beside him. They sat like that for a while, neither one saying anything as Naruto continued to cry his heart out.

"She was the most beautiful woman I ever knew." Naruto's sudden statement was enough to bring Sasuke back down to earth and look at the blonde next to him. Blue eyes stared back at him, filled with sadness. Sasuke registered what Naruto had said and realized he had no idea what the idiot was talking about.

"What?"

Naruto looked down at the book propped up on his knees before sliding his legs down to rest on the floor and placing the book in his lap. Sasuke then realized it was in fact a photo album, not a book.

"Gaara brought it with him, he was gonna give it to me when he found time to visit me during his trip to Konoha. It's an album of all the photos from when my family used to visit his when we were kids." Naruto pointed to a large picture of a woman. She was on the beach, long red hair flowing in the wind, a huge smile on her face.

"My mother. The most beautiful woman I ever knew." A tear hit the page as Naruto began to cry again.

Sasuke didn't know what to say so instead he just looked at the photo again and noticed how alike she was to Naruto. Her smile was so very similar to the one Naruto had been wearing the first time Sasuke had seen the blonde. She was tall and slim and her hair looked unbelievably soft and warm.

"Her hair is amazing." It wasn't the sort of thing he'd normally say, but he felt it was right in the situation. Plus, the blonde was right, his mother was beautiful.

"She'd like you." Naruto looked at Sasuke and gave him a small smile. "She liked people who complimented her hair."

The teen looked back down at the album and flipped the page. This time the raven recognised quite a few of the people in the photos.

"My dad. Though you probably already knew that one." Naruto said, pointing to the man Sasuke had recognised as the 4th Mayor of Konohagakure. "And me. I was a pretty short kid." He laughed a bit, pointing to a much smaller Naruto who had the biggest smile on his face Sasuke had ever seen. He smiled without realising; the sunny grins of Naruto and his mother were pretty infectious even if they were just pictures.

The two continued to flip through the album, the blonde making a comment here and there while Sasuke just nodded. They finally got to the last page and the crow felt Naruto tense up next to him. He looked down at the picture of the family and then glanced at the date it was taken and realized why the boy had suddenly stopped. The picture had been taken the day before his parent's death.

Naruto suddenly began to cry again, great heaving sobs making him shake and the tears flow down his face. Sasuke was unsure of what to do, knowing how much pain the blonde must be in.

He gently closed the photo album and put it on the floor before pulling Naruto into a hug. He'd never done anything like that before, but something about the boy seemed to bring out the caring side of him, and the responsibility and guilt of what he had done still weighed on his conscience. Sasuke was just wondering if he'd done the right thing when he felt Naruto's arms go round his waist and the blonde's wet cheek rest on his bare shoulder. It was only then that Sasuke realized he was practically naked and blushed a little, though Naruto didn't seem to mind so he pushed the thought away and he continued to hold the boy in his arms. He realised that Naruto probably hadn't had anyone to give him physical comfort his during stay so far, despite being assaulted twice. Infact, Naruto probably didn't get comfort of any kind very often. The raven himself was not a physical person as far as he knew, but the blonde seemed like the type who enjoyed hugs and demonstrations of affection and consolation.

At some point Naruto's crying stopped and his arms fell limp, his breathing becoming steadier and eyes drooping closed. Sasuke could also feel sleep dragging him down and he slumped down the wall a little further, curling in slightly and unconsciously resting his head on Naruto's chest. Sasuke finally let sleep take him, listening to Naruto's steady heartbeat as he was whisked away to dreamland to have a peaceful night's sleep for the first time in 10 years.


	5. Chapter 5

**This is the last chapter I had written previously, so from now on it will be fresh content. I hope I can keep the pace and style of the story the same.**

 **Please please review because without reviews I have no motivation to continue writing.**

 **Note: This fic switches between Naruto and Sasuke's POV. Whenever there's - it means its switched. Also, things in** ** _italics_** **are internal thoughts from whoever the section is currently being written in the perspective of. I hope that makes sense.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of it's characters.**

 **REHAB CHAPTER 5**

Naruto awoke as the first rays of sunlight started to filter through the gaps in the blind. He blinked sleepily, wondering why his chest felt so heavy.

He looked down to find a mess of usually spiky black hair just under his chin and the naked torso of the boy it belonged to resting peacefully on his chest. The blonde's eyes travelled further down the raven's body and widened a little when he realised the teen was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts which hung loosely off his thin hips.

Naruto took in his pale skin and toned stomach, the way his shoulders were just broad enough to pull off having such an otherwise skinny frame. The blonde winced slightly as he noticed the red lines scattered over the entirety of the raven's arms and legs, some faded and pale, some fresh and raw. He wanted to reach out and touch them, as if he could brush them away so they weren't present on the alabaster skin anymore. He suddenly realised what he was doing and pulled his hand back as if he'd been burnt and violently shook his head.

' _You hate this guy, remember?!_ ' he thought to himself angrily. He shifted slightly under the crow before picking up his head in two hands, moving to the side and quickly removing his hands so the head fell to the hard, cold floor with a loud thud. Sasuke's eyes snapped open and his whole body tensed up, eyes wide as if looking for danger. He turned back and gave a surprised gasp when he found Naruto sat by him, not noticing the boy before.

"Did you just dro-" Sasuke was cut off.

"Good morning bastard, it's time to wake up. I'd appreciate it if you didn't use my chest as a pillow again." The blonde bit out coldly, smirking slightly, though it somehow looked foreign on his face, as if his features weren't used to being twisted in such a condescending manner. "Now if you'd like to go back to your own room that'd be great, thanks." Naruto turned away from Sasuke who was still laid on the floor looking bewildered and somewhat hurt even through his stoic mask.

Naruto heard the Uchiha pick himself up off the floor and walk into their shared bathroom, the door slamming behind him, followed by the sound of Sasuke's bedroom door shutting a few seconds after.

"Serves him right." He told himself, but something about what he'd said and done didn't feel right.

3 days had passed since Sasuke had woken up with a throbbing head on Naruto's bedroom floor. Since then, things had only gotten worse between them. They weren't even trying to hide their dislike for each other anymore, getting into fights in the corridor and arguing at meal times. Even petty things such as locking the other out of the bathroom, pulling pranks or leaving threats in toothpaste on the mirror had become a daily occurrence. It was weird to Sasuke that they'd spent one evening together, Naruto opening up about his life and family, crying on his shoulder and embracing him, just to close off again and their negative feelings towards each other amplified.

Sasuke noticed that Naruto had been slightly more accepted into the group after the blonde had stood up for Neji when Sasuke had knocked him over on his way upstairs. It had been an accident on Sasuke's part and he was intending to just ignore the angry Hyuuga but after the brunette had insulted him, the raven felt his pride would be damaged if his backed down with a fight.

It also frustrated Sasuke that Naruto had managed to make a friend, a boy called Kiba who had joined the centre the day the Uchiha had woken up in his neighbour's room. Kiba had joined late after not being accepted in the first time, but Deidara's absence had left a space. He was a drug addict, now going through withdrawal, but despite that he and the blonde had hit off almost straight away after discovering they both had the same crappy sense of humour. Kiba also found it amusing to make fun of Sasuke's hairstyle and trip him over at every opportunity possible, which apparently to Naruto was "absolutely fucking hilarious", though Sasuke really didn't see it.

Although Sasuke wasn't rejected from the group like Naruto, the raven had failed to make any friends, though that was more due to his lack of effort than anything else. People didn't understand him, they didn't get to know the real him, what was the point in trying to start a friendship with people who just want you for your 'status' as the poor Uchiha orphan?

The rest of the week passed fairly quickly, Naruto and Sasuke were still arguing daily but the Uchiha felt they'd somehow lost the venom behind their words, even if he wasn't sure why. He tried to convince himself he hated Naruto after he'd been so sorely rejected from a rare push at friendship on his part, but it felt like his head and his heart were disagreeing. His feelings were confusing him, how even after the bruises he'd gained from his brawls with the blonde, his mood still dropped when he saw Naruto looking sad or lonely. Or how when he'd look up at breakfast and see the boy smiling across at Kiba, his heart would skip a little for seeing a smile so bright even after all it had been through. Sasuke had been ignoring these thoughts as much as he could but it seemed they were taking up more and more space in his head.

It was Sunday and, the crow remembered with a groan, they would be getting visitors today. Yamato had announced at their night-time meal on Thursday that a letter had been sent to all their families/guardians inviting them to come and spend an afternoon at the centre on Sunday. Almost everyone had been excited by the thought and were looking forward to seeing their families after so long. Sasuke was not one of them. The thought of Kakashi coming to spend time with him and the rest of the group just made him cringe and made suicide seem even more appealing than usual.

The crow groaned again, realising not only would Kakashi be thoroughly embarrassing but he'd probably also want to know of Sasuke's progress. Which was small, if any? Sasuke was sure his guardian would be just as annoyed as Mr. Mokuton was at his lack of progress and the amount of fresh cuts littering his arms and legs.

The Uchiha felt like running up to the roof of the centre and throwing himself off the top when he heard the over head speaker go off and Sakura's now familiar voice sound out.

"Your friends and family have started to arrive. If you can all make your way down to the main hall the afternoon's activities will commence in 10 minutes. Thanks."

Pushing himself off his desk chair, Sasuke stood up and stretched, wincing at the feel of the new scabs on his arms stretching as he did so. Slipping on his favourite navy hoodie and burgundy converse, the crow exited his room and shut the door firmly behind him before flipping up his hood and shoving his hands in his pockets.

When he finally arrived at the main hall after the slowest walking he could remember doing, Sasuke was greeted with the site of a whole new crowd of people. His eye's scanned the mass of bodies for a familiar shock of grey hair but he found none. He sighed and mentally slapped himself for thinking Kakashi might actually be here on time.

They were all called into the circle where extra 12 chairs had been added and everyone was allowed to sit and chat with their families for a while. All aside from Naruto, who as the raven noticed, didn't seem to have any family here yet either. But he didn't seem to care; he was too busy being slobbered on by Kiba's humungous dog to notice.

After long enough for everyone to be reacquainted with their loved-ones, Yamato cleared his throat and called for their attention.

"Okay! It's great to meet everyone's family and friends and have you all here with us today. Thank you for turning out to spend the afternoon here. We're going to try and make it as light-hearted and fun as possible, so don't worry about that. Now-"

"Yo. Sorry I'm late." Came a voice from across the hall. Sasuke didn't even have to look over to know who it was and instead chose to bury his face in his hands. This was just plain embarrassing.

"Sorry, but who might you be?" Yamato asked and the Uchiha heard his chair scraping, indicating that he'd gotten up to greet the man in the doorway.

There was footsteps before the voice came again, this time a lot closer and the crow dared a peek between his fingers only to regret it. ' _What was he wearing?!_ '

"I'm Kakashi, Sasuke's guardian. I'm sorry I'm late, it's just I was on the way here when I found a stray kitten on the edge of the road so I had to go find him somewhere to stay safe. Couldn't just leave the poor little thing all alone could I? I felt like that with Sasuke the first time I saw him as well."

Sasuke felt his face explode with heat and that wasn't helped by the laughter coming from across the circle which almost certainly belonged to the stupid blonde and his doggy friend.

"Ah Mr. Hatake! I've heard about you from Sasuke. Don't worry, you haven't missed anything. Please, take a seat next to Sasuke and I'll start over. I'm Mr. Mokuton by the way, head psychiatrist here at the centre."

The raven finally lifted his face from his hands and looked to his left to see Kakashi take a seat next to him. "What are you wearing?!" he hissed at his grey haired guardian, who was currently dressed in a pair of grey skinny jeans, a hooded jumper with a swirled pattern on either arm and a pair of green high-tops which clashed horribly with his jeans. "You're dressed about 10 years too young for your age, and it doesn't even match!"

Kakashi sniffed, "I tried to dress casually to make a good impression. I thought you'd be embarrassed if I turned up a shirt and tie like I usually do."

"A shirt and tie would've been a million times better than what you're wearing now." Sasuke bit back but Yamato started to speak again before he could comment any more.

"Okay so as I was saying, today is about you, the family and friends, getting involved with what we're doing here. It's so you can help and support your loved ones and also find out a little bit more of what's going on while they're here." He paused for a moment to pick up some papers under his chair. "We're going to start with a group counselling session if that's okay with everyone? I've heard about you from the ones staying here but I want to know what you think of them. How you feel? How you want to help? All those sorts of things." There was another short pause as Yamato skimmed over the page in front of him before he placed them back on the floor. "This is also good for getting things out in the open. Everyone here has a problem that needs solving, whether it be you yourself or someone close to you. Sometimes things go unsaid that need to be heard. That's what today is for."

The afternoon passed incredibly slowly for Sasuke. He wasn't the least bit interested in the troubles the others were having, nor how their families felt about it. It was even worse when he had to speak about his depression and get comments from Kakashi. After what seemed like a painful eternity, Yamato closed the session to a close and they were directed to the dining area where an extra table had been added on the end to accommodate for the visitors.

The table was noisy with chatter and conversation, everyone being pleased to be-able to talk to their fathers, mothers and best friends. The crow found it almost amusing how alike Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji looked to their parents, but thought it best not to make a comment. Kakashi was a hit with the mums, as usual. He was witty and charming and flirted shamelessly with Kiba's older sister despite the young Uchiha's attempts to stop him.

However, something did distract the raven from the rest of the buzz going on around him. He was sat in his usual place at the table, second seat from the end. Naruto was there too, sat diagonally opposite him with his back pressed to the wall, chin resting on his knees and eyes unfocused. There was nobody sat next to the blonde. No parents, for obvious reasons, but no other family either. Not a guardian like Sasuke or just a friend to keep him company. Naruto had nobody to care for him and something about that made Sasuke ache a little inside. For someone with such a bright, warm smile, Naruto rarely got the chance to show it.

"Isn't that the Uzumaki kid?" someone said from the end of the table, loud enough to be heard even where Sasuke sat.

"Yeah I think it is…who let someone like him into this place? Is he even safe enough to be around our kids?" Another voice asked though they were soon shushed by Hinata.

"Naruto huh?" Kakashi's voice whispered, too low for anyone other than the Uchiha to hear. "He really does resemble Minato…"

The crow turned to face his guardian. "You knew the fourth?" This was something new. Kakashi never really spoke of his childhood. Sasuke knew very little about what had gone on during that period of his guardian's life, though he did know it had been tough. The grey-haired man was an orphan like himself, and he'd lost other people important to him along the way too.

A sad smile graced Kakashi's face for a moment but then it was gone. "He was my instructor. You see, he started off as a policeman, like me. When I first joined I was very young, and Minato was the one who taught me most of what I know. Although I learnt a lot of the basics while I was studying Law, you don't learn the real practical stuff from sitting in a lecture theatre or reading a book. What Minato taught me back then is invaluable."

There was silence for a while. The Uchiha had never been good in situations like these. It went without saying that Kakashi had mourned at the loss of the previous Hokage, but the raven didn't know what to say. People always said "I'm sorry." but that never sounded right.

"I see." He said finally and looked up to see Kakashi give a short laugh.

"You never did have a way with words." The man said, reaching out his hand to ruffle the Uchiha's hair before Sasuke's own sleeved arm came up to block its path.

"We're past the hair ruffling stage, remember? I'm 17 now, Kakashi. I'm not a kid."

"I know, Sasuke. You haven't been a kid in far too long."

The rest of the evening pasted smoothly, and thankfully there were no more awkward group counselling sessions, though Kakashi was informed on Sasuke's lack of progress which gained him a threatening look from his guardian.

Soon it was starting to go dark outside, the last rays of sun peeking over the horizon before slowly disappearing and letting the moon take over. The residents of the centre said their good-byes, and Ino even had to be prised from her father by Shikamaru and Chouji. Kakashi had disappeared a minute or so ago saying he'd "Just remembered something".

"I thought you might want this." Sasuke tensed up and spun round but breathed a sigh of relief when his eyes hit Kakashi's masked face. The man had always been able to creep up on the crow if he wanted and it was something that really annoyed him. His eyes travelled down to Kakashi's hand and his eyes widened slightly.

"My guitar?" he questioned, taking the instrument from the other's grip and relaxing a little at the familiar weight in his hands.

"Sasuke." The seriousness of his voice made the Uchiha look up. "I know you're not comfortable here but I also know it will do you good if you give it a chance. And your guitar is something you really do love, even if you won't admit it." He paused before speaking again; his tone had something sad about it. "I know you think I don't get you, but I'd like to think I understand at least a little. Just try okay?"

Sasuke stood there for a couple of moments and watched as Kakashi walked towards the door, thanking Yamato and Hinata as he went. Not waiting for anyone else to see off their visitors, he turned straight towards the stairs and headed up to his room.

Naruto waved until the car headlights were no longer visible and turned round to Kiba who had just done the same.

"My mum really liked you y'know. She says when we're out of here you can come over any time you like!" Kiba said, a grin on his face.

Naruto couldn't help but smile. "Thanks Kiba. You can come over to mine too, though I'm not sure why you'd want to. It's really boring."

"Pfft. I bet your house is huge! You live with the Hokage after all."

The blonde shrugged. "It's nothing special. Besides, I'd rather live in a little house that felt like a home than a big one that was just a roof above my head!"

The Inuzuka elbowed him in the ribs and let out a laugh. "Will you stop being so negative! We had a good afternoon okay? I know Jiraiya never came but I had fun anyways so just be happy."

"I guess you're right. Thanks for letting me sit with your family most of the day, seen as mine didn't bother showing their faces. I'm gonna head up to bed now, I'm beat! I'll see you tomorrow, Kiba."

He headed up the stairs, Kiba yelling something about negativity after him. He smiled; he'd made his first real friend. He could visit Kiba's house when they finished up here, and maybe Kiba might visit his once in a while. They could hang out together, do the things friends do.

By the time he got to his door, he was grinning from ear to ear, his blonde head full of imaginary situations that himself and Kiba might have one day in the future. Some of them were just them messing about or playing pranks. But in some, there were other people there as well. More friends, people who didn't care what Naruto had been through as a child, and just enjoyed his company and wanted to be with him.

His mind was still filled with things that were yet to happen as he got changed into his sleeping sweats and headed into the bathroom to wash and brush his teeth. He was just about to turn over and try to sleep when he was pulled out of his imagination by music. It wasn't too loud, but loud enough for him to hear it clearly. He sat up in bed and walked over to his bathroom door and stuck his ear against it, listening for the tune again.

A slow, sad song started being played and it made Naruto go weak at the knees. Even though he had no musical talent he could tell it was a guitar and the sound of the strings being plucked one by one in such a melancholy way made his heart sink and his good mood vanish. The blonde sunk to the ground, back against the door with his head resting against the wood and his eyes closed, just letting the notes wash over him. There was something so very beautiful yet sombre about the song that he didn't even realise that his eyes were wet before the tears rolled down his face, dripping one by one onto the rough carpet.

Suddenly the tune cut out and Naruto opened his eyes again, wiping at the wetness on his cheeks with the back of his hand. It suddenly occurred to him where the song had been coming from and his heart stopped a little before beating double the pace. The blonde got up and quietly opened the bathroom door and saw Sasuke's hamper was empty, meaning he was yet to use the bathroom. He picked up his tooth paste and started to write on the mirror, something he was used to by now. But this message was different. Naruto smiled; satisfied with his work before washing his hands and heading back to his own room.

Sasuke changed into his boxers, refusing to acknowledge any of the emotions playing that song had brought forth. He gathered up his dirty clothes and headed into the bathroom, placing the clothes into his hamper before turning to the sink to wash. Something on the mirror caught his eye and he sighed as he realised Naruto must've left another crappy insult for him there. The crow took a step forward and stopped, eyes widened a little at the words.

"Who knew such a heartless bastard could play something so beautiful? Nice playing, idiot."

A small but genuine smile formed on the usually stoic Uchiha's lips and he knew, right then, he just knew; there was something special about Naruto.


End file.
